New housing technology to be featured at highly-anticipated Int’l Building Expo

The printing of a house by a Construction 3D printer, which is currently being assembled at the International Building Expo venue, the National Stadium, Providence, will see patrons witnessing it.

Junior Housing and Water Minister, Susan Rodrigues, along with Chief Operations Officer of Black Buffalo, Todd Grimm and Chief Executive Officer of Maraiko Bay Resort, Leo Powell on Saturday briefed the media about the 3D printer’s capabilities.It was disclosed that Black Buffalo is the printer’s manufacturer located in Pennsylvania, United States of America, while Maraiko Bay Resort is one of the participating companies at the expo.

Rodrigues said that this is the first of its kind in the Caribbean. She noted that it raises the bar in terms of construction technology in Guyana. “In the housing sector, we have a very big mandate, a very tall order, in terms of house lots and housing construction, and also we will need to employ the use of modern technology in order to ensure that we deliver on our targets, not only in the housing sector, but in terms of infrastructure generally for the future of our country,” Rodrigues said.

The minister disclosed that the machine will print one of the ministry’s low – income model houses, measuring 600 square feet. However, she said that human resources will be required for the installation of windows and doors, wiring, plumbing, and other fittings.

Rodrigues said that generally, the machine saves about 20-30 per cent of construction cost. “It is my assumption that this machine will do more than just be a part of the housing sector. I anticipate that we will have to get more of this in the country, because this particular one can print a two-storey house…but they also have machines that, when configurated, can go as high as four storeys,” Minister Rodrigues noted.

Powell stressed that the equipment was one of the building solutions when the company was looking for opportunities to develop the Maraiko Bay resort, which will be established in Mahaica.

“Not just for Maraiko Bay, but also to the national housing project and other projects in the future like Silica city, highway drains, ways that we could use reinforced concrete at a high PSI (Pounds per square inch) to be a part of the development process here in Guyana,” Powell said.

Meanwhile, Grimm added that, “What you are able to do is take a foundation that’s pre-existing and go on top of that and print a home. You can print about 1200 square feet in about 20 to 30 hours, which would be about a three-day print.”

Grimm noted further that a normal block wall is about 2, 800 to 3, 200 PSI. When tested, the printed wall has 7,500 PSI after 15 days, and 10,000 PSI after 28 days.

International Building Expo will see the participation of over 200 local businesses, the event will run from July 22-24.